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Thursday, 16 February 2017

Review - 'Supergirl', S02E12 - 'Luthors'

While
it's difficult to deny that the second season of Supergirl
has been an overall improvement on the first, in a variety of ways,
it has still had its issues. The 'Cadmus' story-line which had
initially set the events of the second season in motion just hasn't
been terribly compelling, overall – and, the villainous figure at
the centre of it all, Lillian Luthor, has rarely been able to come
across as anything more than a fairly generic villain. On the other
hand, though, it is directly through Lillian's action that we have
two equally imposing minor villains, in the form of Metallo and the
Cyborg Superman. Also, while Lillian Luthor hasn't been terribly
compelling on her own, those scenes shared with her adopted daughter,
Lena, have made for some genuinely great drama.

While
all of these various plot-threads have been set to one side, since
the series returned from its mid-season break, they are all brought
back to the spot-light with the season's twelfth episode. With the
attention turned to the trial of Lillian Luthor, is seemed like the
perfect opportunity for an escape attempt – as Metallo, brought in
to act as a witness, reveals that he has, somewhat, managed to get
his hands on some synthetic kryptonite. With the two now on the run,
though, it seems that all evidence points toward Lena Luthor as the
one to instigate the whole thing – especially when the police
uncover a convenient video which clearly shows Lena handling the
glowing green rock.

Finding
herself placed under arrest, Lena Luthor's guilt seems to be entirely
confirmed when Metallo, himself, puts in another appearance to bush
her out of prison, and take her to her mother. The implication, of
course, is that mother and daughter are now working together – and
the city, as a whole, seems perfectly willing to take up that
narrative, and run with it. At the CatCo offices, James and Snapper
Carr run a story which paints Lena has clearly guilty, despite Kara's
protests – and, even Kara's team-mates at the DEO seem intent on
assuming the worst. Through it all, though, Kara remains convinced
that there is more going on then there appears to be – and, that
Lena might actually be innocent.

The
central question that the episode asks is, of course, whether Kara is
actually right to put so much faith in Lena Luthor. While her friends
and allies are very quick to assume the worst about her, and are
clearly suffering from a very overt 'anti-Luthor' bias, Kara is
entirely convinced that the woman she has come to think of as a
friend can be trusted. James might be quick to point out the fact
that Clarke and Lex were, also, once close friends – but, this
obviously isn't going to be enough to convince Kara. Even actual, and
very compelling, evidence of Lena's role in Metallo's escape from
prison doesn't do much to sway her faith – with Kara immediately
(and correctly, it turns out) assuming that the video evidence is
fake.

Rather
than attempting to establish any sense of genuine uncertainty about
Lena, though, the episode seems to go out of its way to reward Kara's
faith in her friend. With constant cut-aways to scenes of Lena's
protests, and her anger at her mother (along with the ultimate reveal
that Lena, as Lionel illegitimate daughter from an affair, is the
only one capable of opening on of Lex's many secret vaults of
alien-killing weaponry) all serves to clearly establish that she is
very much a victim of her adopted mother's continued attempts to
coerce and manipulate her, rather than a willing participant.

From
the very beginning of the episode, it feels obvious that the audience
was never actually meant to assume that there might be any villainous
intent in Lena Luthor. It all seems fairly straight-forward,
actually. But, then, the episode comes to an end with a scene
featuring some fairly heavy-handed chess symbolism clearly meant to
imply that Lena Luthor might actually have plans of her own in
motion, after all.

Honestly,
this is a moment that I found to be frustrating, rather than
compelling. For one thing, it is obvious that the writer's aren't
ready to reveal exactly what
Lena's secret motives might be – and, are instead willing to settle
for the vague hint of something.
The entirety of this final moment can be summed up as Lena
remembering the moment that she once beat her brother, Lex, at chess
while ominously fondling a chess piece, in the present – but, the
implications of this moment, from a symbolic view-point, are fairly
obvious. While I'm sure that it must have felt like a clever way of
hinting at the sort of person Lena Luthor truly is on paper (by
painting her as a literal 'chess-master' who might actually rival
Lex) it also, on reflection, is a moment that doesn't actually tell
us anything, at all. Whatever this final moment was actually meant to
represent, though, I'm hopeful that it will turn out to be something
a little more interesting than some heavy-handed hint at Lena being
secretly 'evil' – because, so far, the idea of a Luthor genuinely
committed to trying to restore the reputation of her family, following
the antics of a villainous mother and brother, has made for a much
more compelling character arc.

That
issue aside, though, this was still a very entertaining episode of
Supergirl. Lillian may
not have made for a terribly compelling villain, on her own – but,
much like in previous episodes, the scenes between Lillian and Lena,
here, prove to be a very effective way of developing her into a fully
rounded character. More importantly, though, is the simple fact that
Brenda Strong and Katie McGrath play off of each other very well.
Similarly, while Metallo hadn't really made for a terribly compelling
villain, either, the genuine physical threat that he poses to
Supergirl is, once again, put to good use. While it does seem like a
bit of a shame that we see so little of the original Hank Henshaw
(who actually does manage to come across as a genuinely compelling
villain), it is also pretty clear that we haven't seen the last of
him.